It's going to be really hard to say goodbye to this quilt, but it's going to such a wonderful home, I think somehow I'll find the strength to do it. Jesse, if you are reading this post, STOP NOW! I will be very upset if you ruin this surprise (but I'm fairly sure you have been so busy that you haven't read my blog in eons, but I forgive you!).

When Lee, Katie and Faith started up the Summer Sampler Series, the blocks immediately spoke to me and made me think of my husband's best friend, Jesse. The two of them have been best buds since they were little kids, growing up in the same small town in Connecticut, and despite the many, many miles between them now, they're still quite close. Jesse comes to visit us at least once every year and has become my munchkin's favorite uncle. He's a special part of our family, and when I saw the geometric blocks in the Summer Sampler, they just said "Jesse" to me.

Jesse's the one on the left, hamming it up with my husband at our wedding

After I finished my blocks, I just didn't quite feel done. I knew I could add sashing to add size to the quilt, but I just felt like I wanted to have more blocks for the quilt, so I decided to ask my awesome 4x5 beehive to help me out and add some extra blocks to the quilt.

All said and done, after adding my 4x5 blocks, I still needed 3 more to make the quilt as large as I wanted, so I put together one Japanese x and + block, one block made of four snowballs, and one rail fence block that I bordered with some white and extra blue. I stitched them all together, and the quilt just felt more complete.

I debated adding a border to the quilt, to give it some extra size, but ultimately decided against it. I was too excited about a geometric doodle style of quilting I'd come up with to go along with Jesse's love for all things geometric. I was nervous about trying something new, and in hindsight, I totally should've practiced on a practice quilt sandwich first, but I worried that I would lose my determination to do something different if I stopped to really think about it, so I jumped in and went for it.

I free-motioned groups of interconnected boxes, which remind me of little labyrinths or mazes, stitching down the length of the quilt. It was definitely more fun for me than straight-line quilting, but it also wasn't as precise as I like to be. In the end, I'm happy I did something different, but I definitely need more practice.

I'll be shipping this gift off real soon for the holidays...before I decide I can't part with it! I know Jesse will give this quilt a good home, and I hope it will remind him of us throughout the year.

Elizabeth, this is a beautiful quilt! I love the geometric quilting design to go along with the geometric style blocks! What a great quilt story, too. I am sure this quilt will be loved and appreciated.

Even though I've already commented on flickr, I have to say, this quilt is LOVE. The colors are so cool and tranquil, your quilting is fun and perfect for the blocks, and well, I think it's awesome. I bet Jesse will, too! What a sweet gift.

Jesse LOVES his quilt (and speaking in the 3rd person) ... and is slow on the uptake as far as blog reading is concerned -- good thing too, since I waited to open the gift until Christmas day and reading this sure would have been a spoiler! ;)

Thanks, Liz! not only for the quilt, but for the awesome blog post as well! I'm still not sure if I'm hamming it up in that wedding day photo or just squinting because I had something in my eye. Either way, it brings back good memories of a beautiful wedding.

And I've now caught up on all of your 2012 blog posts! I especially like the camera strap (spiffy camera), and the polaroid-inspired blocks, as well as the colorful 4x5 weathervane blocks, and the carpenter's star.. ok, fine, everything! :)

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